Method of compressing an elastic fluid.



H. A. HUMPHREY.

METHOD 0F COMPRESSING AN ELASTIC FLUID.

APPLICATION F|LEDJuNE1,19o9. ReNEv/EDJUNE19.19H.

Patented Eau, 29, i918l l SHEETS-SHEET 1`.

I H. A. HUMPHREY. MsTHoD oF coMPREssxNG Am amic num.

APPLICATON FILE'D )UNE 1909 RENEWED NINE i9 i911- 1&5993, Mmmm@ Ja.29,19%

4 SHEETS--SHEET 2.

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@ma 'MW W550/@wm H. A. HUMPHREY.

METHOD OF CNIPRESSING AN ELASTIC FLUID.

APPLICATION man :um: s. 1909. HENEWED JUNE 19. 19u'.

ipatened Jan. 29, @3.8.

,4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

MEE/z @6de H.V HUP/IPHREY. METHOD 0F COMPRESSING AN ELSTIC FLUID.APPLICAHON FILED @UNE 1. 1909. RENEwED JuNE19,191 7.

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HERBERT ALFRED HUMPHREY, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR T0I-IUlVIP-IREY GAS PUMP COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD OF COMPRESSING ANV ELASTIC FLUID.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1918.

Application filed .Tune 1, L1909, Serial No. 499,339. Renewed June 19,1917. Serial No. 175,705.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT ALFRED HUMPHREY, a subject of theKing ofGreat Britain, residing at 38 Victoria street, Testmiuster, in thecounty of. London, England, consulting engineer, have invented a certainnew and useful Method of Comliressing an Elastic Fluid, of which thefollowing is a speciiication.

My invention relates to a method of compressing air or other elasticfluid by means oii' liquid descending from a higher to a lower level orpressure wherein the column of liquid which compresses the air rstattains velocity and then the energy acquired is utilized partly todeliver air under pressure and partly to sto-re energy in an elasticcushion to produce a reverse movement of liquid at each cycle and thuscause a fresh charge ot' air to be entrained.

In one of the simplest forms of apparatus, suitable for carrying out themethod referred to, a high level reservoir containing water or otherliquid is connected by a long pipe with an air compressor chamber fittedwith inlet and outlet valves for air. In a pending application forLetters Patent Serial No. 444,061, I have described improvements inapparatus `for compressing air by means of the energy of expansion of anignited combustible mixture, and the types of air compressor chamber andvalves therein described, and such, for inst-ance, as are illustrated inFigures l to 3 of said application, are suitable for use in connectionwith the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate merely by way of example,apparatus .for effecting my invention- Fig. l is a vertical section ofan air compressor chamber in communication with high and low levelliquid reservoirs.

Figs. 2 to 6 are vertical sections of modified forms of the apparatuswith the high level tank omitted. Y

Figs. 7 and 9 are vertical sections of other modified forms ot' theapparatus.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section of a part of the apparatus, and

Fig. l() iS a view Similar to Fig. l, except that the low level tank 61Lis shown. as located above the horizontal. portion of pipe 2 instead ofbelow it.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. l the air compressor chamber l communicates through a pipe 2with a high level reservoir or tank 3 and through a pipe 4L controlledby valve 5 with a low level reservoir or tank 6. rlhe compressor chamberis iitted with an inletvalve 7 which opens inward against the action ofa light spring and with an outlet-valve 8 which opens outward and may becontrolled partly by a -spring and partly by the pressure of the airdelivered. The pipe in which this outlet valve is situated is continueddownward past the top of the air compressor chamber to form a progectingportion l0, and it may contain another4 valve 9 which is normally openunder the yaction of its weight and closes by impact and pressure ofwater upon it. Vater valve 5 is normally kept open by,

a spring 1l or other equivalent device and is shut by the action of thewater upon it due to the velocity of the water or by any known meanscapable of shutting the valve when the desired velocity of the water hasbeen attained. The action of the apparatus is as follows z- Startingwith valves 7 and 8 Shut and al charge of air at atmospheric pressure inchamber l water from tank 3 flows through pipe 2 and past valve 5 to thelow level or waste water tank G. The difference of head between tanks 3and 6 produces a iiow past i valve 5 the velocity of which increasesuntil valve 5 shuts. By this time the column of water moving in pipe 2has attained conumn brought to rest before the water in chamber 1reaches the lower end or lip of pipe l0, or the water rises past thislip soas to cause valve 9 to shut against the seat above it, in whichcase the air imprisoned ico in the top of the chamber above the level ofthe lip of pipel is still further compressed. In either case thereremains in chamber 1, when the column of liquid comes to rest, a

` quantity of air under pressure exceeding the static head due totheheight of the liquid in tank 3. This pressure causes a reverse V'iow ofliquid so that the water descends in l velocity 'of the water continueste remain shut d ue to the pressure of the water upon it kduring thecompression stroke and the exansion stroke in chamber l, just described,iiut at some point during the downward flow of water in chamber 1 thepressure on the top side of valve 5 will be sutciently decreased toenable spring 11 to litt the valve.

Vso that a free loutlet into tank 6 is again provided. It the column otliquid moving.

along pipeQ to tank 3 has not then come vto restwater may flow fromchamber 1 into tank 6 or 'pipe 2 thus drawing more air throughV valve 7and then water may flow fromtank 3 to tank 6to commence a fresh cycle.As soon as the suction on inlet valve 1 water moving toward tank 3 Valve12 is norh'ially held open by spring 13 paratus.

7 ceases this valve shuts under the action of its spring and there isagain a charge of air in chamber 1 ready to be compressed when valve 5once more shuts under the action of the velocity of the water. A

In Fig. 10 the positions ot 'the low level tank 6LnL and the water valve'521 are above pipe 2. In this case it the lreverse How toward tank 3has not ceased when the water, descendmgm chamber 1, reaches the levelof the water in tank G, water will be drawn in past valve .5:l to followthe column 'of until the column comes .te rest soV that some of thedischarged water returns back into the apn Fig.V 2 there is anadditional water valve 12 placed in the pipe between chamber 1 and highlevel tank to which pipe 2 leads.

and closes under the pressure due to velocity ofthe water. The action oftheV apparatus is as follows:

It is assumed that. there is a charge of air at approximatelyatmospheric pressure 1n Y chamber 1 and that all the valves are in the.position shown. Viater ilows from the high level tank past valve 12 to'compress the air inchamber 1 and'to store kinetic energy in the movingcolumn ot liquid. Then the water has a certain velocity valve l2 shutsand the kinetic energy stored in the column ot liquid between valve 19Jand the chamber is utilized to compress further the air in the chamber,some of which is delivered and some of which is retained in the chamberto produce the reverse tlow. lVhen valve 12 is closed, the moving`column of liquid in pipe 2 causes valve 5 to open so that water may flowfrom low level tank (3 past valve to follow the moving column. Valve 5remains open during the remainder ol the compression stroke and on thecushion expansion stroke occurring in chamber 1 a rcverse tlow causes*ater to tlow back past this valve until it is shut by the pressurethereon due to the velocity ot' the flowing liquid. As the moving waterin pipe 2 cannot be suddenly arrested valve 12 is forced open so soon asvalve 5 shuts, and thus communication is again established betweenchamber 1 and the high level tank for the. cycle or' operations to berepeated. In order to avoid shock an air vessel (l0 is vformed in pipe:2 above valve'1`2.

A simple means of altering the volume ol air compressed per cycle isillustrated in Fig. 3 where, in addition to the parte already described,chamber l has another pipe 15 connnunicating` with the atmosphere andprojecting tor a considerable distance .into the chamber. rlhis pipecontains a valve 1G which is normally open but is adapted to shut bytheimpact oil water upon it. lYhen the intlowing column ot' water shutsvalve 5 the other valves are in the position shown in Fig. 3 and thewater rising in chamber l expels air past 'alve 1G into the atmosphereuntil valve 1 6 is shut by impact. s the column of water has done noappreciable work between the shutting of the valve 5 and the closing otvalve 1G it has still further gained in velocity due to the head underwhich it lows, (except in the case where valve 12, Fig. 2, is used andthis valve has shut). The available energy is therefore greater, and thequantity ol air acted upon is less, s0 that air may be delivered undergreater pressure past valve 8 until valve t) is shutby impact tocompress the elastic cushion, whereupon the tlow is reversed. llvvarying the length ot the part of pipe 11') which extends into thechamber, the volume el air to be acted upon when valve Iii closes willbe varied; the greater this length the greater may be the `volume olfair delivered and the lower the pressure of delivery, an-'l vice versa.In Fig. S pipe 15 is shown extending through a `gland 1T in the top otthe chamber casting and fitted with a nut and hand wheel 18 adapted toturn in recesses in brackets 19, 20. As nut 1S is rotated pipe 15 israised or lowered and the aforesaid length varied.

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instances ln application No. 488,427, I havev described how a mixture ofgas and air may be drawn into one chamber when the liquid in anotherchamber which communicates with the first chamber is driven downward,and this method of drawing ina gaseous mixture may be applied to thepresentin-y vention for the purpose of drawing in a charge of air. Thenecessary modification 1s `shown in Fig. 4,V where there are vtwo airpressure is suiiiciently reduced to allow the liquid in the otherchamber to fall by gravity and so draw in a fresh supply of air.

ln the said application No. 438,427, l have shown an interlocking valvemechanism between four valves, which secures an alte-rnate action of thevalves on the two chambers, and it' a similar arrangement is adapted toVthe present case and applied to valves 7, 8,

`7" and 8 the two chambers may be made to act as air compressor chambersor air vessels alternately. Thus when air is being compressed anddelivered from chamber 33 valve 8 is locked shut so that no air can bedischarged past it and all the air between valve 16a and the top of thechamber forms an air cushion. Since the air that is discharged from thetwo chambers may be connected to separate reservoirs it is obvious thatthe pressureat which the air is delivn ered from one chamber may differfrom the pressure at which air is delivered from the other Vchamber andto illustrate this the pipes which project into the tops of the twochambers respectively are shown in Fig, 4 reaching to different levels.

The water valve 5 'which is shut by pressure due to velocity may beautomatically .controlled by the air pressure with the ob- Iiect oflimiting the fluctuations of pressure in the air discharged. One methodof doing this illustrated in Fig. 5 where the stem of valve 5 passesthrough a gland 35 into a cylinder 36 and is attached to a piston 37. Apipe 38 conducts air under pressure from the air discharge pipe to actupon the under side of a piston 87 or other equivalent device such as adiaphragm so as to give an upward thrust which partly neutralizes thedownward thrust of spring 11 which presses on collar 39 fastened to thevalve stem, the effect being` to allow valve 5 to shut under the actionof the `velocity f the escaping water earlier than it would votherwisedo. The

moving column of water has therefore less velocity when valve 5 shutsand the available energy for compressing air is thereby reduced. lt willbe seen that if the pressure of air rises sufficiently to neutralizeentirely the action of spring l1 and the weight of valve 5 and itsattachment, the valve may7 be maintained shut and the action of theappara-tus as a compressor' will then cease until the pressure is againsufficiently reduced to allow valve 5 to move from its seat and allowwater to escape, or until theV apparatus is started again by forciblyopening valve 5 against the static head of water which will exist whenthe column has ceased to move.

l? ig. 7 shows a similar controlling1 device, having the like object oflimiting the iiuctuations of pressure in the air disclrarged, butapplied to valve12 of the apparatus described with reference to Fig. 2.The piston 40 is in this case attached to the stem of valve 12 and airfrom the delivery pipe of the compressor is conveyed through pipe 41 topress on the top side of the piston and so counteract the effect of thespring 13 to a greateror less degreeaccording to the pressure of the airdelivered. The cylinder in which the piston moves has a secondconnection 42 open to the atmosphere. It is evident that, in the lastcase, when the prcssure of the air discharged rises, greater pressurewill be exerted on the top of piston 40 and the upward thrust of spring13 will be further neutralized so that valve 12 will shut earlier thanit would otherwise do. The moving column of water has then lessavailable energy for compressing and delivering air.

In starting the compressor, the water valve may be forcibly openedagainst the static head which exists when the water is at rest in theapparatus. Another way .is suddenly to release the pressure of the airAcontained in the compressor chamber by opening the communicationbetween the chamber and 'the atmosphere. rllhis may conveniently be doneby forcing down the air inlet valve. The pressure on the wat-er valveTill thus be suddenly released and this valve will then open under theaction of its spring and start the usual cycle of operations.

It is not always necessary that there should be a reversal in thedirection of flow of the water lbetween the chamber and the high` leveltank, as the varying volume of the air space in the chamber may bebrought about by al difference in the rate of inflow and outflow ofwater. An example of this is given in Fig. G where pipe 2 fronrthe airchamber passes to the left to the low level tank to the right to thehighY level tanlr, not shown. rllhe waste water valve 5 has a stem witha bottle shaped projection 46 on it;

against the surface of which tworollers 47 and 48 are urged'by means ofa spring 49 The rollers are mounted on arms and l pivoted at andrespectively and are carried on a fame :it attached to the tank andserving also to act as guides to the valve stem. ln the position shownthe rollers 47 and 4-8 have been torced'into theA recess on the part 46and thus, serve te lock the valve in itsY shut position, so that itrequires a VpressureV on the underside ot the valve, exceeding thepressure at which compressed air is delivered, to torce the valve upwardagainst the action ot the rollers. Spring lt9 is adjusted so that thepressure at which valve 5 opens is the normal cushion pressure inchamber l. itis assumed that the pipe between thc chamber land the highlevel tank is a long one compared with the )ipe between the chamber andthe low level tank, and the action ot the apparatus is as follows: Afterthe long column trein the high level tank has compressed a charge ot airin the usual way,

kand cushioning occurs, valve 5 opens, its

first movement on opening being to torce the rollers from out of theVrecess'and to litt the f' valve until the rollers are in contact withthe approximately cylindrical portion ot'part 4G. The action etV therollers has then no tendency to shut valve 5 and the valve re-' mainsopen while the cushion-expansion oC- curs and'waterescapes past valve 5causing a 'fresh charge ot air to be taken into chamber l. column oitwater between the chamber and thelow level tank has been expended thewater ,level in tank G, being higherthan in the chamber, causes a Howtrom tank 6 to the chamber to take place, and, due to the action o' thistlow, valve 5 is shut again and held shut bythe rollers entering intothe recess on part i-6and the cycle is ready to be repeated. It will beobserved that in this case there is noV necessity for the column otlliquid between thev chamber and the high level tank to be reversed,since, it the tiovv is always'trom the high level tank to the chamber,the cushion energy is su'tlicient to cause a more rapid tlow between thechamber vand the low level tank when valve opens and thus allows the airspacein the chamber tc increasewhile the fresh chargent lair is drawnin. The reverse-movement of water Vbrought aboutby the cushion energy isin this case coniined tothe movement of water in the chamber and waterin the pipe between the chamber and the low. level tank.-

So far, thea' inlet pipe Vhas been shown open to the atmosphere tromwhich the rsupply of air is taken, but it is obvious that a closedconnection may be used andthe apparatus worked asan eXhauster. ln suchcases'it is generally desirable to'place tank 6 at a sujtlicientlylowlevel to assist in producing the required degree et suction on theair inlet. f c

In applications Serial Nos. 438,425 and lVhen the energy imparted totheY 438,426, there are descriptions ot how air vesselscommunicatincwith the column ot water may be used tor altering theperiodicity and the amount ot energy available per cycle, and suchinians are applicable to the present invention. Also. the etlectivelength oiA the column ot liquid between the high level tank and thecompressor chamber, or ot any other column ot liquid utilized toi' thepurpose ot' this invention may be altered by cross connections betweendilterent pai-ts ot the pipe in which the water moves, so that byopening or shutting valves portions ot thc pipe may be cut ott' or addedas desired. Thus, in Fig. Sl the pipe between the conipressor chamber land high level tank 3 is shown fitted with three valves. lt valves tiland Llei are open and valve 4-5 shut, water can pass by the shortestroute trom tank 5i as far as valves 473 and 4l and to the compres sorchamber. It valves t3 and l5 are shut. and valve 44 open, water tlowsaround the right hand bend then as tar as valve lt through which itpasses to the chamber. The longest route is toi-med when valves 42% and14A: are sluit and valve 45 open, when the water has to traverse thewhole length oi the pipe. lilith the short route the colulnn ot waterwill attain its velocity more quickly but the available energy per cyclewill be less, while with the long column the period ot the cycle will beincreased and the available energy will be also increased.

I claim- 1. The method of con'ipressing an elastic tluid by means ofliquid descending trom a higher to a lower level or pressure, whichconsists in permitting a tiow ot said liquid until it attains velocity,then utilizing the inon'ientum of the liquid partly to compress anddeliver compressed elastic fluid, and partly to store energy in anelastic cushion to produce a reverse movement ot the liquid and thuscause a fresh charge of elastic fluid to enterthe region of compression.

2., The method of compressing an elastic tluidby the movement of liquidtroni a higher to a lower level, which consists in pci'- mitting a flowto waste until required velocity is secured, then intt-irrupting theflow to waste and utilizing the momentum ot thc liquid to compress anddeliver compressed elastic tluid, and also to compress an elasticcushion to reverse the movement ot tlu` liquid and utilizing themomentum to cntrain vfresh elastic fluid, varying the tlow to waste andthereby controlling the velocity oli the liquid in its compressionmovement.

Pi. The method ot compressing an elastic tluid by the movement ot liquidfrom a higher to a lower level, which consists in permitting a tlow towaste until required vclocity is secured. then interrupting the flow towaste and utilizing the momentun'i ot the liquid to compress and delivercompressed llll lib

elastic fluid, and also to compress an elastic cushion to reverse themovement of the liquid and utilizing the momentum to entrain. freshelastic fluid, varying the effective Vmass of the liquid in thecompression movement.

4l. The method of compressing anf elastic fluid by the movement ofliquidl from a higher to a lower level, which consists in permitting aflow to waste until required velocity is secured, then interrupting theflow to waste and utilizing the momentum of the liquid to compress anddeliver compressed elastic fluid, and also to compress an elasticcushion to reverse the movement of the liquid and utilizingl themomentum to entrain fresh elastic `(luid, varying the effective mass ofthe liquid in the reverse movement.

5. A method of compressing air or other elastic fluid by means of liquiddescending from a higher to a lower level which consists in causing acolumn of liquid which compresses the air to attain velocity and acquireenergy, utilizing the energy partly to deliver air in part underpressure and in part at at- Y mospheric pressure, so as to vary thevolume of air to be delivered under pressure, and partly to store energyin an elastic cushion, and using the energy of the elastic cushion toproduce a reverse movement of liquid and tol cause a diminution ofpressure and thus entrain ai fresh charge of air.

6. In a method of compressing air or other elastic fluid by means ofliquid deH scending` from a higher to a lower level and which consistsin causing a column of liquid which compresses the air to attainvelocity and acquire energy, utilizing the energy partly to deliver airunder pressure and partly to store energy in an elastic cushion, usingthe energy of the elastic cushion to produce a reverse movement ofliquid and to cause a diminution of pressure and thus entrain a freshcharge of air, utilizing some of the air delivered under pressure tocontrol automatically the velocity to be acquired by the column ofliquid.

7. The method of Vcompressing an elastic fluid by means of liquiddescending from a higher to a lower level or pressure, which consists inpermitting a flow of said liquid until it attains velocity, thenutilizing the momentum of the liquid, acting upon two regions ofcompression alternately, one of them acting as air compressor and theother as a resilient cushion, partly to compress and deliver compressedelastic fluid, and partly to store energy in an elastic cushion toproduce a reverse movement of the liquid and thus cause a fresh chargeof elastic fluid to enter the region of compression.

8. The method which consists in reciprocating a column of liquid with avelocity sufliciently limited to preserve the coherence of the columnand having sufficient bulk and path of travel to acquire useful momentumand permitting a gravity actuated movement of the liquid in onedirection of its reciprocation until it acquires sufcient momentum tocompress a primary medium.

9. The method of compressing an elastic iuid by a column of liquid ofsufficient volume and path of travel to enable it to attain usefulmomentum, which consists in permitting a gravity actuated movement of'the liquid until it attains velocity sufficient to acquire usefulmomentum, utilizing said momentum to compress the elastic fluid, andutilizing a portion of the energy of the compressed fluid to reverse themovement of the l liquid.

ln testimony whereof' l have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT ALFRED HUMPHREY. Witnesses:

J. MILLARD, W. J. SKERTEN..

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, E. C.

